1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to PDF direct printing by a printer, and in particular, it relates to a method for automatically selecting one or more interpreters among multiple interpreters for processing the PDF document.
2. Description of Related Art
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a very popular format used in a wide array of applications, including the Print On Demand market. PDF direct printing is a process by which a PDF file is sent directly to a compatible printer device without first using an application or print driver to pre-process the PDF data into a traditional print language such as PDL (Page Description Language). The PDF data is processed by the printer itself and printed. PDF direct printing may be initiated, for example, from a computer connected to the printer, by dragging a PDF file icon to a printer utility icon on the Microsoft® Windows desktop, or by right-clicking the file and choosing the “print” command. It may also be initiated, on a printer that has slots to receive flash or other memory devices, from the printer itself. Some software for managing large printers used in professional print shops also has the ability to initiate PDF direct printing.
A PDF direct printing-enabled printer is typically equipped with multiple interpreters, also referred to as raster image processors (RIPs). An interpreter generates bitmap images from input data such as PDL, PostScript®, PDF, etc. Examples of interpreters include PCL (Printer Command Language) interpreter, Adobe®'s Configurable Postscript Interpreter (CPSI), Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE), etc. Some interpreters are capable of processing different types of input document. For example, CPSI can process PDF documents in addition to PS data. Some conventional PDF direct printing-enabled printers are equipped with two or more interpreters that can process PDF data, such as APPE or CPSI, and allow the user to select one of the multiple interpreters to process a given PDF document by using a user interface (e.g. an operation panel on the printer, a web browser-based screen on a client computer connected to the printer, etc.). The selected interpreter is used to process the entire PDF document. For example, if APPE is selected, it is used for processing the entire PDF document, and the CPSI interpreter is not used.